A Day in the Life of Our Cowgirl Queen

Natalie Rolling, a boarder at Silver Spur Stable, earned the title of 2017 North Iowa Senior Cowgirl Queen at the North Iowa Fair. Natalie is a junior at Clear Lake High School. She lives with her parents, Bob and Suzy, and her younger sister, Paige. My dad works at his brewery Lake Time Brewery in Clear Lake, and my mom works as a pharmacist in Mason City. Paige is a freshman and goes to Clear Lake High School as well. They also have a dog whose name is Zoey, “She's so spoiled,” in Natalie’s opinion “I would really like to get a cat but Paige is allergic to them, unfortunately.” Natalie is currently employed at Louie's Custom Meats in Clear Lake and at Silver Spur Stable. Her plans after high school are yet to be determined.

Natalie first began riding horses when at nine years old. “I have always been in love with them. I started taking lessons and riding lesson horses in another barn." After two years she leased her first horse Liberty. They had a great two years together but Natalie needed more of a challenge. She then took on the challenge of working and leasing a new horse, Mack. I leased Mack for two years and Liberty for four before my family decided to buy my first horse, Solo. Solo is a three-year-old, palomino America Paint Horse Association (APHA) registered gelding. "Before I bought him this spring he was a western pleasure trainer for 60 days and previous to that he was in the Ellsworth equestrian program for a semester.”

When I interviewed Natalie I asked her how she prepared for the fair, her comment was “I spent a lot of time bonding with my horse while we were riding. We worked a lot on our connection while riding. I also took lessons with a local trainer to become a better rider.” There they will participate in the annual Cowgirl Queen Contest. The Cowgirl Queen Contest can be described as a beauty pageant on horses.

In order for anyone to participate there are steps for the queens to participate at the State Fair, including earning their title at the local level and being between the ages of 10 and 26 - which are split into a Junior and Senior division. However, each club can add their own set of rules, I inquired if North Iowa Fair added any other rules, “To qualify for the state fair queens contest I had to answer a questionnaire, perform a rail class, followed by a question from the judge and a salute.” The salute is repeated extending two fingers from your hat to the crowd going around the arena one by one while keeping timing with your horse. “After completing one full lap you stop preform a back of five steps and a 360° pivot. Finally, you give 3 salutes towards then judge(s).” There were three other contestants in the ring competing with her. “My reaction to winning was very surprised, it was a pleasant surprise and I was so proud of Solo and myself.”

On August 11th I followed her to the Iowa State Fairgrounds. It was an early day, even though the contest doesn’t start until six o’clock in the evening, we were arriving at the Silver Spur Stables at twelve hours prior to the event. They packed the trailer, bathed and loaded Solo and drove three hours to the fairgrounds. Once arrived it’s time to unload the trailer and Solo, and started to prepare for the contest. Natalie hired a professional makeup artist to do her hair and makeup, Paige took care of Solo’s needs, and I cleaned her riding equipment. We knew the junior queen and the junior and senior queens from Horsemen of Iowa (HII) and North Iowa Saddle Club Association (NISCA), two nearby local saddle clubs. However, we didn’t have to start until four in the afternoon so we spent seven hours goofing around and making memories with each other and our horses.

Since the entire junior division goes first, we said good luck to our junior queens, and Natalie, Paige, and I started to prepare Natalie and Solo for their ride. They were part of the second wave. The moments until her ride grew fewer and 10 minutes prior to her ride she waiting in the warm-up pen. When her turn came to enter the arena, Natalie’s, her family’s and my nerves rose. I was shaking as I was taking pictures, I was surprised I have any clear pictures. For approximately a 15 minutes her class continued to be judged and evaluated. When the top five for the finals were being announced, unfortunately, Natalie and Solo were not one of the pair selected. So we cleaned up and went home, arriving at approximately one in the morning.

In 2016 Natalie was the North Iowa Junior Cowgirl Queen. She mentioned what the differences were, "The biggest change between the two years that I have competed in Cowgirl Queen Contest was my riding. The first year I went I didn't know quite what to expect or how to prepare. My second year I worked with multiple trainers to really improve my riding. I also switched from the Junior Division to the Senior Division but that didn't phase me at all! Obviously I used two different horses too!”

The Cowgirl Queen Contest means a different thing to each rider participating. To Natalie “the Cowgirl Queen Contest was a way to push me to be a better rider. Competing motivates me to work as hard as I can so I compete because competing is something I enjoy doing.” She encourages other and she would tell them that they really have to put a lot of work into it. Being a Cowgirl Queen is not easy and does require a lot of time and effort. “But really, just to have fun. Because it's an amazing experience that not everyone gets a chance to participate in.”